Chapter Zero
by Darkwing-Eli
Summary: The way I imagine the prequel to the animated series. Dedicated to those that believe GW is a kid thing.
1. The circle of history

*** Standard disclaimers:** About Gundam Wing I own the fantasies it created inside me. I don't get any profit from this, only the pleasure to share my dreams with friends; so don't lay the blame on me if I took the liberty of playing with characters that don't belong to me.

*** Author introduction:** Good day to everybody that is reading now (or good night...I don't know, what time is it for you now?) and just to begin...THANK YOU for being here. If you aren't already bored to death, let me play safe about what follows.

This is the first time I've written something of mine, that I wasn't ordered to do by those almighty mysterious creatures we common mortals call teachers. So this isn't just the first fan fiction I dare to put on paper, but it is the first mission in absolute that sees on the battlefield me and my PC as a typewriter.

And this isn't the only doubt I've about this. Well, English isn't my language. I'm Italian, and I was born and grew up in Italy, so...I don't know what came up with this attempt I made. **You should say this to me. (Hey, don't make that face...I know it's a dirty work, but somebody has to do it, hasn't he? ^_~).**

Ok, so I don't throw you in the middle of the ocean without a life vest, I tell you in advance that, as the title suggests, I'll talk about the Chapter Zero of the anime, and I'll show you the point of view from an old acquaintance ("old" in name and in deed) some sides of the prelude to the adventures of our heroes.

OK...I blabbered enough...If I roused your curiosity, here is the work of my warped mind, if not...*shrugs*...never mind, I tried.

Warm greetings to you all! ^___^

_Dedicated to my dear evil buddy #1, Estrange, for her wonderful beta-reading work. She's to shy to admit that she's a jedi, but I'm pretty sure she can read my mind. I swear I've proof! She could understand my weird speech even if I didn't know what I was saying!_

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**Chapter Zero**

**By Darkwing**

**First part: The circle of history**

Earth. A perfect, silent and magnificent azure-green jewel, hanging on a living black velvet carpet embroidered with stars.

This was its appearance, seen from space, for those that lived there. But it was less than two centuries ago that men could freely look at the world that gave birth to their species from such a privileged point of view. Before the construction of the space colonies, only few explorers and brave pioneers had boasted such a perspective. And it had been thanks to their spirit of sacrifice, and to their determination, that now millions of people could live a normal life inside those technological wonders that were the orbiting towns.

The steady challenge that took up the colonies inhabitants in the exhausting struggles against the power nature had harshly hardened the space people. In their ranks were born extraordinary men and women that were able to build a society starting from nothing. Yet the courage and the devotion of the space people weren't enough to protect the orbiting isles from the sad day the ruthless circle of history had clenched them in an inflexible grip.

An elderly man with long white hair, whose body once strong was now bended by age and by a large number of surgical operations, sighed and rested a robotic hand against the thick glass of the panoramic hall. It as if with that simple act he could have been able to touch the planet from which the entire joys and sorrows of the space people were coming from.

_'From here it doesn't seem that dangerous...'_ He bitterly thought.

He turned towards the promenade, the computerized glasses that had replaced his eyes years ago focusing sharply as he did so. His still sharp and rational mind made a rough estimate and evaluated that about the twenty percent of the L1 inhabitants were wearing a military uniform. They all were federal soldiers sent by the terrestrial government to watch the colonist's movements. A sardonic smile withered his wrinkled skin under the immaculate moustaches, as he thought that reality had a very morbid sense of humor.

Centuries before, that point hanging in the middle of nowhere had been located by the outstanding mathematician from which L1 inherited the name. It was defined to be a point of balance between the gravitational forces binding the earth to the sun, to the moon and to the other celestial bodies belonging to the solar system. It was an oasis of peace that the laws of physics had silently presented to the mankind, allowing them to make that place a fulcrum for huge projects. But the unworthy sons of the earth violated that gift of nature by bringing there instruments of death and destruction and so, a peaceful place, where every force concurred towards quietness, had become the stage that would have seen to be born the most dreadful conflict of the human history. 

With a bitter sigh the old colonist thought that scientific discoveries and technological innovations had changed men's life, but they had kept untouched their inner essence.

_'History keeps on being inexorable and to repeat its course every time similar to itself since the most ancient mists of time,'_ he reflected._ 'A nation becomes strong, powerful and populous, and it can invest its resources exploring new territories and founding new colonies and satellite states...But when these became economically prosperous and they begin to rival with the mother country...mankind is able to travel only along the same path._

_The phantom of war comes back to seduce men's souls, and those that fear it and oppose to the conflict are reduced to silence; otherwise they lose hope and start to believe that war is the only option left. Hate, prejudice and deceptions, skillfully orchestrated by the mass media in the hands of few powerful men, contribute to dig the deep fractures needed to divide the nations. Fear and a natural survival instinct justify the destruction and the sorrows that follow behind a faded flag of justice. In this way the fight and the blood are surrounded with a holy aura that only the men that are blind and deaf to their heart's cry can't see and don't' want to crush._

_I'm one of those men.' _He admitted, at least to himself.

But in the year 180 A.C. armies didn't fight anymore like the wars Athens fought against Sparta, nor like the Independence war the American colonies fought to free themselves from the English domain. No, if human beings had evolved to the point of being able to build wonderful works of intellect to dominate nature, scientists and engineers, born during the new age, didn't forget to also develop sophisticated instruments of death a thousand times more terrible and deadly than the ancient ones.

An impulse of rage ran through the old man's limbs as he remembered the first invasion he witnessed and lived through, against his will,  fifteen years before. He had been a protagonist in that sad event since the beginning.

He was there during the meeting when the pacifist leader, Heero Yuy, was killed. The charismatic pacifist leader had joined the space colonies and promoted the independence process from the Terrestrial Federation. The sniper that had assassinated the popular diplomat had escaped the arrest, but rumors said that behind the attack there was an organization, internal to the Federation, named OZ.

The Organization of Zodiac was a political lobby that, with the help of time and a solid economical support from few wealthy families, had skillfully increased its power on the whole earth and, despite that it didn't act for any particular nation, had been able to insert its members on every level of the political and military hierarchical ladder.

The OZ soldiers had become the elite army corps inside the Federal military forces and it had been they that had invaded the colonies after the attack against Yuy's life, finding it a plausible excuse they need to grant order and safety to the space's citizens.

Those that didn't agree and had struggled against those that were considered invaders had been savagely slain amidst the town's streets. The cruel massacre of the colonists, that fought in vain against an enormously stronger and organized enemy, had been justified by the terrestrial authorities as a sad but necessary mean to extirpate forever the rebel fringes of terrorists that intended to destroy the 'fruitful' unification process between earth and space. Now lacking in an effective political leader, and without any possibility of resistance, colonies had been tamed, their alliance dissolved and they were subdued again to the earth with an iron martial law.

The elderly man shook his head. After fifteen years L1 was still in a state of siege and even if blood no longer stained the town's streets, deep scars were still all along the colony structure, and many blocks had never been reconstructed.

If he still had had his eyes, he'd have closed them to forget, even if only for a moment, the reality that surrounded him. But he couldn't. His body, like the colony's one, was marked with the brand of war, and he couldn't forget the past.

After all that time he still had nightmares about that day in which a _Leo had irrupted inside the research institute he worked for as an engineer. A lonely man, at the command of that lethal anthropomorphic armored machine, very common amongst the Federal space infantry, destroyed the whole structure. He was too near to the explosion of a fuel tank and so he had lost an arm, the use of a leg and his eyes. But he had survived, thankfully to some colleagues that, escaped form the attack, that could help him. It was that day he made a vow. He'd have had his revenge._

He was just an old scientist, not a man of action, but this wasn't a good reason to underestimate him. Secretly, together with a few colleagues, he had worked for fifteen years on a project that'd given to the colonies a possibility for their liberation, and each of them had designed a weapon the human mind had never conceived before.

It had been hard to keep it secret and obtain the materials needed for the construction, but at last he had succeeded. He had built the most powerful and versatile mobile suit that had ever existed - the _Gundam _XXXG-01W_ _Wing_ - and he had personally trained the pilot that would lead it on mission to earth. He was just a boy, but thanks to his work he had become a perfect warrior and an efficient destructive machine._

In that moment his wrist-comlink rang and a young man appeared on the small liquid crystal screen. "We are ready, doctor J."

The old engineer recognized the detached and professional tone belonging to his pilot even before seeing him, and nodded to give him an answer. Satisfied, he observed the impassive face of the boy, and his dark blue eyes, sharp and resolute, half hidden under the brown ruffled locks falling on his forehead.

The scientist allowed himself a small smile, well knowing that his thick white moustaches would have concealed it.

When he had identified that boy, he was only a child, but he already had that spark****that was burning in his gaze even in that moment; he had been a talented and clever pupil, and with the rigorous training he subjected him to, he had increased his physical strength out of all proportion, his reflexes and, most of all, his emotional control. Now nothing could distract him from the mission he had trusted him with. Nothing but death.

"I'm on the way." He answered curtly.

Immediately the device became blank and doctor J paced towards his laboratory at the maximum speed allowed by his mechanical prosthesis. He sighed. At last the moment he had waited for so long was coming.

He frowned thoughtfully. '_Who knows if on the other colonies the guys are ready...?'_

For the first time in fifteen years he felt the bite of anxiety tightening his stomach, but he quickly banished again the unpleasant feeling. This wasn't the moment for being sentimental...this was the moment for action.

TBC...(?)

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**AN:** WOW, if you read it until the end you deserve a medal!!

I have no clue if this is disgusting or worthy of a bit of consideration. Until now I showed it just the Italian version to a few friends, and I translated it because I need to know the opinion of my web-friends.

Please, don't be afraid to tell me the truth. I need to listen to the advices you can give me. I believe I made a lot of grammar and typo mistakes, so please don't think I take any offense if you show them to me. You make me a pleasure, indeed.

*Bows in front of all the real fan fiction authors* Let me know, ok? And...*Crosses fingers behind her back*...I swear I won't bite anyone! ^__~ 


	2. The birth of Death

*** Standard disclaimers:** See first chapter.

*** Author introduction: **What could I say about the following piece? Well, I've to admit that, at least on the beginning, I hadn't any intention of writing it, but I really couldn't resist. How could I forget my favorite character? And most of all, how could I pretend that my celluloid counterpart didn't exist?!?! ^_~

So...it is with great honor and supreme pleasure (and incommensurable scare ^.^''), I'm going to introduce you, the second part to the animated series, so...please, fasten your seatbelt, and get prepared for a little trip to L2!!

_Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed my last chapter. I almost cried tears of joy! And a special hug to Estrange, for her priceless help._

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**Chapter Zero**

**By Darkwing**

**Part two: The birth of Death**

Along the rusted wall of the service hallway, fallen into disuse, a dark and shifty shadow crept quick and silent; it stopped for a brief moment, and then started again to stealthily shift inside the maze of ducts and narrow passages that wound in the battered bowels of the L2 colony. It was most unlikely that someone had followed him, but Duo Maxwell didn't want to be in any danger, so he changed his direction more than once, before heading towards his destination.

Even the most hidden and less frequented corners of the town didn't conceal secrets to from him - after all, those streets had been his only house home for most of his life - so, even if he had allowed himself a little detour**_, _he wouldn't loose his way. On the contrary, if someone had tailed him, now he would have completely lost his sense of direction.**

A small devious smile bent his lips as he kept on making his way amid the darkness of that familiar place. He thought that it would have definitely been the most amusing theft he had ever performed, and besides, it would have been a real piece of cake.

He approached an electronic lock and quickly typed the pass code. The shutter rose, followed by the whistle of the hydraulic rams, and it shut again as the sensors sensed the young man's passage. Before switching on the torch he carried, he instinctively reached for the gun he hid under his perfectly black shirt. Actually he knew it couldn't be somewhere, but there were cases in life when being careful wasn't enough. However he trusted he didn't need to use it; at least not there.

The absolute darkness and the silence the hangar was plunged in created a surreal atmosphere, charged with the tension that forebodes a storm. Nobody was at work at that time of the night - since the launching was programmed for the next day - nevertheless, keeping his guard up, he cautiously lit the torch to its lowest intensity.

He didn't want in any way to show his presence before the right moment, and after all he didn't need a bright light to make his way inside the laboratory. He had worked and lived there for six years, since he had been hired as a pilot, and he knew the place like the back of his hand.

He confidently made for the control room to the upper floor, and he inserted his permits into the central computer memory. The screen immediately answered his touch**_,_ coming back to life, and illuminating the small room with a ghostly azure-green light. Duo didn't take too much time to find the data professor G had promised him.   **

Yeah, professor G. He had never understood the real reason why that freaky old man - with a hooked nose similar to a bird beak, and those mischievous eyes always hidden under that excessive white mane - didn't want to tell his real name. He always thought he was a bit paranoid, but he couldn't say he wasn't a genius; a cynical and pitiless genius, even a bit twisted, but always a genius. He couldn't be anything less the man that designed a technological jewel like that.

Duo stayed a moment in contemplation of the plans of the war mobile suit that, at least for its creator, was the better that had been constructed. As an unholy artwork, it was a worthy mouthpiece of the sinister personality that had conceived it and**_,_ with haughty pride, had nicknamed it _Gundam XXXG-01D Deathscythe_. The young pilot's eyes lit up with wicked pleasure, like two unusual blue gems shading into violet, as he thought that a technological terror like that had been devised just for him.**

"We're leaving for a wonderful trip, ol' buddy." He said, talking to the black metal giant, lying still inside the carapace of the space capsule below.

A thrill of excitement run across his spine at the mere thought of the impending travel towards the earth. Soon he would have his chance. He would finally obtain his revenge against OZ, and justice would be served for all the innocent lives that had been struck down during the occupation.

After he had finished his mission there wouldn't be any other war orphan like him; no other child would have to live among the streets, neither he would have to steal to live, and above all, no one else would have to be forced to fight and to stain his hands with blood.

Quickly he loaded all the data that would someday be useful to him onto a disk and drove it inside his pocket; then he converted the permissions so that the decompression chamber's hatches and the sliding block of the elevator could be piloted from the cockpit of the mobile suit. As he finished, he proceeded to the deletion of the whole database of the main computer, and he shut down the terminal. Now, without those plans, whose only copy was inside the disk he had just done, it would be impossible to build another _Gundam like that._

He smiled once again, amused by the old scientist's sharpness of mind and by the irony of the situation. Duo didn't know every detail, but he knew G secretly obtained the funds for the _Deathscythe_ construction from someone that was very rich and, in some ways, close to OZ.

The engineer used them for fifteen long years, but when it had been completed he took back the reins of his work. A few hours before he called him and he announced that the moment to do what they worked for all that time had come. G ordered him to 'steal' _Deathscythe_, to lead it to Earth, and to use it against OZ in a guerrilla of attrition.

Duo suspected that, in all probability, that mission on Earth would have been a single ticked trip, but he didn't mind, he wasn't afraid of death. He didn't have any bond of affection, so nobody would miss him if he didn't come back; besides if he****remained on L2, what kind of life he would live under the Federation's dominion? They all were treated like slaves, and he certainly hadn't anything to lose in that attempt. They couldn't take away from him anything more than they had already stolen.

_'Who knows, maybe this is the reason why G chose me. Because I'm expendable.'_ He thought with a bitter smirk. For some strange reason, he found that this knowledge was more comforting than frightful. The idea to be able to control a dramatic situation, in which he just had been a simple victim until that moment, was a sensation that filled him with reckless self-confidence. It made him feel like he could have destroyed OZ all by himself.

Until then his existence hadn't any value for anybody - besides who could be interested in the destiny of a paltry pilferer living on the fringe of society? But on board _Deathscythe he would be someone and, if he could not find purpose in his life, then he would find it by fighting to his death._

He shrugged and checked the time to verify the work schedule.

The professor recommended him to be faithful to the program, even if he didn't tell him why it was so important. Maybe the scientist considered that in that moment the launching would go easily unnoticed, or that it would be more difficult for the federal patrols to intercept him. Duo nodded to himself. Everything was going like copybook.

He put on his anti-g space suit and let himself down into the cockpit; he closed the capsule's hatches and the mobile suit ones and, before wearing his helmet, he started an accurate and quick check up of _Deathscythe_'s control systems and armaments.

Under his skilled fingers monitors and consoles come to life again and surrounded him with a familiar constellation of coloured leds and fluorescent panels. As the computer finished every diagnostic test, it transmitted the results with a reassuring faint blink of green lights: the fuel level and the life support were at maximum levels, and so the light guns' and vulcan's ammunitions. He made sure the laser weapons' power supply cells were charged and that the stealth devices were operating. At the end everything was in perfect shape. He could leave.

On the main screen he scrolled a map of the North American Region and he programmed a route so that his impact on Earth was in proximity to his first target: a mobile suit factory.

A new window appeared on his left screen and a winkling spot showed a place along the Pacific coast. That would be his next stop, that is to say his operating base while he remained on the Earth.

"Howard...Who knows what sort of fellow is he? If he's like G, he's stark raving mad!" He told himself, while observing the map and remembering what the professor told him about that man, when he gave him his last instructions. He still had in front of his eyes the old scientist's scarred face, as he talked with that insinuating tone.

_"Along the Pacific coast you'll find a floating platform. It belongs to an old friend. His name's Howard. Introduce yourself to him as the God of Death. He'll give you a hand."_ He made a pause, and then he started to talk in a vaguely sinister and menacing way. _"A last thing. Remember, Duo, in this mission there isn't any rule. Kill, before you get killed, and destroy OZ. This is all I can tell you."_

The thought of that conversation made him shudder. He didn't like G at all; the scientist was a dangerous and an untrustworthy man and, in some ways, he was disgusting and corrupt. The young pilot sneered and put on his head the helmet, hiding inside his space suit the long chestnut braid in which he used to gather his wild hair. Not that he couldn't be dangerous - 'S_oon OZ will have a tasting!" - but he didn't like to take orders from the professor. He would act on his own account._

"All right, pal," he said finally, talking to his vehicle, as it had been able to answer him. "Together with you I'll become the Death itself. Thanks to you I'll take those OZ cowards straight to Hell with me."

He quickly typed the command codes that activate the elevator and, with a slight shake, the capsule started to move and was easily dragged inside the decompression chamber. As the airtight hatches were closed and the air was completely sucked away, the shutter on the outer space opened, sliding into opposite directions, similar for shape to the toothed mouth of a giant metallic monster. The soft glare of the stars greeted the leaving pilot.

Perfectly at his ease, Duo clenched the control joysticks and, as he received the green light from the main computer, he pushed them firmly forward. Inside the cockpit he could immediately hear the propeller's roar raise their tone, until the injection inside the combustion chambers didn't trigger and the gas propellant's blaze didn't erupt from the rear nozzles.

Duo was pushed against the seat by the strong acceleration, and half closed his eyes, savouring the euphoria that he always felt for the sudden increase of the blood pressure, during the take off. He took a deep breath and relaxed again as the gravity disappeared, signalling the end of the thrust phase. Finally he was on his way. A faint arrogant smile bent his lips.

"Goodness knows how they will be happy to see us!" He exclaimed, charging himself with adrenaline. "An unexpected guest is just what they need to enliven the party...I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun, ol' buddy!"

He softly caressed the shooting controls. The optical sensors of his artificial alter ego immediately sensed the gloved hand's presence and they obediently answered to their owner's touch. They automatically oriented their position to adapt themselves to the pilot's grip and confirmed their activation with a short electronic trill. 

Duo sighed and slackened his fingers. Unfortunately that wasn't the moment, but the time was near. Soon the whole world would learn to bring respect to him and to the space colonies.

He called back on the main screen the Earth image, recorded by the outer cameras, and admired the breathtaking view. He sweetly bended his lips staring at this sparkling beauty in front of his eyes and, for a brief moment, he deceived himself to be allowed to gain pleasure from the sight, such as every other man could do.

_'The light...it's a beauty, but it's also a stranger within my world.'_ He thought, with a bitter coldness, openly contradicting his relaxed attitude. He switched off the screen and the lighting system, letting the poisonous gleam of the control panels to light up the cockpit.

His changeable glance hardened again. "This isn't the moment to play tourist. I'll be allowed to do it another time..." He said. After an instant of hesitation he raised a thin eyebrow, winking cynically to himself. "Perhaps."

TBC...(?)

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**AN:** Here we are at the end of this short paragraph. Medal number two for those that read this one too!

I can't hide the doubts I've about this piece. But I won't list them, otherwise I'd steal you the pleasure to take your revenge against me. Please, give vent to your feelings about this. You can also throw me tomatoes...I've always loved a good sauce! But also lasagne, spaghetti, pizza and ...ah-ehm...Ok ok, I'm blabbering again. ^_^;;

That's all folks!

See you soon for the next pigout...ehm...fiction. ^_~


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